South Korean drugmaker SK Bioscience announced Friday that it has hired experts from big pharma companies including Sanofi in a bid to bolster its presence in overseas markets. SK Bioscience plans to boost its qualifications to the highest possible standards through recruitment of world-class professionals and eventually venture into foreign markets, including the US and Europe. “It is time for us to expand our presence into global markets. By upgrading our business through strategic talen

Posco Holdings, the holding firm of steelmaking conglomerate Posco Group, Friday estimated a 46.7 percent on-year drop in operating profit last year, mainly due to suspended operations in typhoon-hit steel manufacturing plants in Pohang The firm's annual operating profit fell to 4.9 trillion won ($3.9 billion) from 9.2 trillion won in 2021. Posco Holdings noted the temporary closing of manufacturing facilities in Pohang caused by a typhoon last year resulted in a loss of 1.3 trillion won in

Korean Air said Friday it will resume services to four major destinations in Europe starting from March. After a 3-year hiatus due to the pandemic, the airline will restart the Prague and Zurich routes from March, followed by the resumption of the Istanbul and Madrid routes from April. Starting from late March, Prague and Zurich routes will be operated 3 times a week, taking turns with a day’s interval. Flights to Istanbul and Madrid are arranged to open on late April -- following the same

South Korean builder Daewoo E&C said Friday it opened an education school to train experts in welding and scaffolding, as part of its social outreach project. The center launched training programs for welding and scaffolding, the two skills that are large in demand in Nigeria, Daewoo E&C said. The welding program began on Jan. 11, and it aims to foster 100 welders in six seasons, with each season lasting for three months. The scaffolding program also began on Monday. Those who complete t

South Korea's top steelmaker Posco said Thursday it completed the restoration of its typhoon-hit steel manufacturing plants in Pohang, North Gyeongsang Province. According to Posco, all of its 17 steel manufacturing plants, which are responsible for more than one-third of Posco’s some 13.5 million metric tons of steel products produced annually, will go into full operation starting Friday. Posco attributed its quick recovery from the storm to its some 1.4 million employees' combi

South Korean battery maker SK On said Thursday it has partnered up with US-based battery materials manufacturer Urbix to develop ecofriendly anode materials for electric vehicle batteries. Under the two years of joint development agreement, SK On will apply anode materials produced by Urbix using refined graphite to its lithium-ion batteries and work on improving battery performance. If successful, the battery maker will consider using Urbix’s anode materials in its US battery factories,

By Lee Young SMEs and Startups Minister With rapid growth led by large conglomerates, South Korea was able to be the world’s 10th largest economy. But now, startups are becoming another growth engine for the country, backed by the SMEs and Startups Ministry paving a powerful avenue for growing and developing high-potential firms. Fifty percent of Korean products that received the Innovation Awards at Consumer Electronics Show last year in the United States were from venture and start

Food and bakery giant SPC Group said Thursday that it has opened the first Paris Baguette store in Malaysia on a 264-square-meter site at the Pavilion Kuala Lumpur, the capital’s biggest shopping center in the heart of the major commercial district of Bukit Bintang. The latest store opening comes six months after a joint venture -- Berjaya Paris Baguette Sdn. Bhd. -- was launched in partnership with Berjaya Group, a Malaysia-based property developer. SPC is expanding its presence in the So

Hyundai Motor Group on Wednesday displayed Genesis X, a concept electric vehicle, at the Korea Night event held on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, to promote the country's bid to host the World Expo 2030 in the southern port city of Busan, the automaker said Thursday. A total of 58 Hyundai Motor vehicles wrapped with the slogan "World Expo 2030 Busan, Korea" has been driving around the Swiss city this week to help Korea's bidding campaign.

Hazardous substances were detected in Korean food company Nongshim's flagship ramen products to Taiwan, according to the Taiwan Food and Drug Administration Thursday. Nongshim's exports of Shin Ramyun Black Tofu & Kimchi cup noodles to Taiwan failed to pass the country's customs inspection, the TFDA said. According to the TFDA, 0.075 milligram per kilogram of ethylene oxide, or EO, had been found in soup packets of each instant cup noodle product. EO, which is largely used for

South Korea’s telecom giant KT Corp. is undergoing digital transformation and making business opportunities out of it with its advanced cloud streaming technology. The company created a virtual art gallery placed in the metaverse with fast-evolving technology, allowing art lovers to explore various artworks regardless of time and place. KT joined hands with local startup TCAG to create a cloud-based streaming digital twin gallery, which realized 12 contemporary artists’ works display

South Korea’s imports of coffee soared nearly 45.1 percent in the first 11 months of 2022 from a year earlier. The value of the country’s coffee imports came to $1.19 billion in the January-November period, up 45.1 percent from the previous year, according to the data from the Korea Customs Service. It marks the first time that South Korea’s yearly coffee imports have exceeded $1 billion. Last year’s amount was up 16.7-fold from 20 years earlier. With coffee consumption s

Investment banker-turned-professor calls on companies to use their expertise in solving social problems

The top 100 Korean companies in terms of sales invested a total of 5.44 trillion won ($4.3 billion) in environmental and safety efforts in 2021, the Federation of Korean Industries said Wednesday. The FKI analyzed the firms' environmental, social and corporate governance, or ESG, efforts based on the companies' own reports. The 100 firms' combined investment of 5.44 trillion won marked a 87.6 percent increase from 2.9 trillion won in 2020. The federation report said the increase r

Amogy, a US clean energy startup, has successfully conducted a test drive of the world's first ammonia-powered, zero-emission semi truck, SK Innovation said Wednesday. The semi truck secured 900 kilowatt-hours of net electric energy after eight minutes of fueling process that used Amogy's ammonia-to-fuel technology. SK Innovation invested $30 million in Amogy in June last year.